Textile Industry

Two Bathing Suits Highlight History in Everyday Life

July 20, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Two bathing suits from the textile collection of The Buffalo History Museum highlight the long and varied history of swimsuits. In the early 1900s, women wore long gowns with bloomers underneath for swimming.

These bathing gowns were weighted down by several heavy layers of material, occasionally with weights sewn into the hem so the material would not float. Fabrics were chosen for bathing suits that would not become transparent when wet. [Read more…] about Two Bathing Suits Highlight History in Everyday Life

Lake Champlain: The Irish Lake

March 9, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Between 1840 and 1860, a great wave of Irish immigrants washed up on the shores of Lake Champlain. So many, in fact, that the inland sea was nicknamed “the Irish lake.”

The reason, of course, was poverty and job opportunities. Although Irish Catholics had started arriving in New York and Vermont in numbers by 1820, Champlain truly became the Irish lake in the mid-1840s during the Great Famine. [Read more…] about Lake Champlain: The Irish Lake

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire & The Little Falls Textile Strike

February 22, 2026 by J.N. Cheney Leave a Comment

National tragedies have historically been the catalysts for massive shifts in matters such as culture and law. One such tragedy in the twentieth century was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911.

An example of the gross negligence from factory owners so prominent in the industrial field and disregard for anything but profit, the Triangle Fire’s impact was so immense that it would ultimately serve as one of the primary catalysts that resulted in a massive labor strike in New York’s Mohawk Valley over a year later. [Read more…] about The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire & The Little Falls Textile Strike

Immigration and Labor in Little Falls, New York

February 11, 2026 by J.N. Cheney Leave a Comment

The rampant industrialism of the Gilded Age and early Progressive Era eventually took root in Little Falls, NY. The city and the surrounding Mohawk Valley had served as a hub for immigrant and migrant labor for a significant time. The construction of the Little Falls Canal and the Erie Canal during the 18th and 19th centuries attracted a multitude of predominantly Irish laborers.

In the latter half of the 19th century, as industrialism took hold, the mass construction of railroads attracted even greater numbers of immigrant workers to Little Falls in search of jobs within the burgeoning factory apparatus. [Read more…] about Immigration and Labor in Little Falls, New York

Alexander Hamilton, Industrial Spies & Rogue Nations

February 10, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

At present, politicians London and Washington are alert to Beijing’s attempts to exploit Anglo-American technology. They are weary of China stealing trade secrets, copying methodologies, or obtaining sensitive business data, whilst Western companies continue to seek admission to the Chinese market.

Over time, Britain and America themselves have been involved in acts of intellectual property theft. In fact, the United States accuses China of similar illicit practices that helped its nascent industry leapfrog that of European rivals and come out as an industrial giant. The means used today may be more sophisticated, but the purpose of gaining a competitive edge remains the same. [Read more…] about Alexander Hamilton, Industrial Spies & Rogue Nations

The Little Falls Textile Strike: New Scholarship Brings A New Book

January 25, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

J.N. Cheney, an independent historian focusing on the labor movement, radical politics, and community action where he lives in the Mohawk Valley has published Women, Immigrants, and the Working-Class Battle in Little Falls, New York: The Textile Strike of 1912-1913 (Algora Publishing, 2025).

This is the first non-fiction book to provide a comprehensive recounting and analysis of the largely forgotten Little Falls Textile Strike, one of the most important events in New York State’s labor history and one with national significance. [Read more…] about The Little Falls Textile Strike: New Scholarship Brings A New Book

The Hudson River’s Fortress of Shoddy in Troy

November 16, 2020 by Suzanne Spellen 4 Comments

Driving north on I-787 approaching Troy you can see an iconic building – a tall red brick building with turrets that looks like a fortress.

It’s at 1 Jackson Street. What I like to call the Fortress of Shoddy. [Read more…] about The Hudson River’s Fortress of Shoddy in Troy

Washington County’s Mysterious Black Migration

May 2, 2013 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Historian L. Lloyd Stewart’s The Mysterious Black Migration 1800-1820: The Van Vrankens and Other Families of African Descent in Washington County, New York (2013) is an extensively researched and documented book on the geopolitical and economic conditions that instigated a migration of thousands of “free” African Americans from various New York State counties and New England during a period when slavery was still legal and active in New York State. [Read more…] about Washington County’s Mysterious Black Migration

Power in a Union: The Story of American Labor History

October 15, 2011 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America (Anchor Books, 2011) by Philip Dray is an epic, character-driven narrative that moves between picket lines, union halls, jails, assembly lines, corporate boardrooms, the courts, the halls of Congress, and the White House.

Dray (NPR Interview) presents an urgency of the fight for fairness and economic democracy for working people — a struggle that remains especially urgent today, when ordinary Americans are so beset by economic troubles. [Read more…] about Power in a Union: The Story of American Labor History

Textile Industry

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